Wet blocking machine for hats



May 28, 1940. J. AUER 2,202,367

ws'r BLOCKING MACHINE FOR nus Filed Kay 1, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 IINVENTOR ATTQ RN EY 5 May 28, 1940. J. AUER 2,202,367

war BLOCKING MACIIINE FOR HATS Filed Bay 1; 19:59 a Sheets- Sheet 2INVENTOR ATTORNEYS,

May 28, 1940. R 2,202,367

v WET BLOCKING MACHINE FOR HATS Filed May 1, 1939 s Sheets-Sheet 5 5 VINVENTOR ORNEYS,

Patent eel May 28 1946 PATY'ENT OFFICE.

WET, BLOCKING MACHINE. FOR HATS John AueryEast Norwalk, Conn.Application May 1, 1939, Serial No. 271,053

' 9 'Claims.

This invention relates generally to improvements. infelt hat blockingmachines, and-more garticularly to a wet blocking machine-for felt .Itis an object of the invention to provide a machine which shapes thecrown and permits shrinking to size, and also shapes and stretches thebrim during the wet blocking operation, and therefore securing a. bettershape and one more nearly like that of .the finished hat during thewetblocking, thus doing awayrwith the necessity of the hand blockingoperation and securing a better. shaped hat and one in better conditionfor the finishing operations'without suchhand blocking. i 4

A particular object is to produce a device by which may be secured abetter shape around the bandand abetter fit. Also, to get a better setto the flange-like brim which is not pulled out of shape or stretchedwhen pulled off the block, and to secure these advantages in wet blockininstead of steam blocking;

With the foregoing and other objects in view I have devised aconstruction as illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming apart'of this .specificatiom' it. being-understood however that I am; notlimited to the specific construction shown. and that various changes andmodificationsmay be used within the scope of: the invention. q

these drawings: Fig. '1 is a vertical section through the machinesubstantially at the center. thereof;

r Fig. 2 is a side .elevationof the machine but with a detail showing ofthe. gripping elements omitted;

Fig. 3 is a .top plan view of the lower portion of the device with theblock and its support removed, the view being substantially along theline3'3 of Fig; 2; I

.1Fig;;4 is a top plan view of the upper portion of. the device;

- Fig. 5 is a detail view showing one portion of the gripping andsupporting means, which is the next position after that of Fig. 1; 45 1Fig.6 is a similar view showing the next positionv after thatofFig. 5; I

' Fig; 7 is a detail section .of the ring substantially on line 1-4 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a similar section substantially on line 8-7-8 of Figgl; and

-Fig. 9is a detail section amodified constructionof ring.

The device comprises any suitable frame structure-Ili-on which thevarious-elements ofthe mounting through one side of device are 'mounted.The hat body supporting and gripping means comprises a series of uprightlevers H located within the frame arranged in, substantially generaloval arrangement corresponding to the general oval shape of the hat tobe blocked as indicated in Fig. 3, these levers being pivoted at 12 onarms l3 projecting inwardly from a suitable supporting ring l4 mountedon supporting, brackets I5 carried'by the frame. At the upper or headends of these levers is a lower gripping surface or jaw [6 with whichcooperates an upper movable gripping jaw IT. This movable jaw is carriedby a rod [8 slidable in the head of the lever II it being guided on theinner side by a wall I9 below the jaw [Band on the opposite side by aroller f The lever ll includes an inwardly projecting operatingarm 2! inwhich the lower end of the rod I8 is guided for vertical reciprocatingmovement by any suitable means suchas the rollers 20 22 on oppositesides of the rod. .Any. suitable number of these gripping devices areprovided around the center of the device to grip the brim 23 of the hatbody indicated at 24 these gripping means being placed close togetherthroughout the entire periphery of the brim as indicated in Fig. 3,although for simplicity this figure shows only a portion of thesedevices. Associated with each gripping device and mounted on the headthereof is a brim supporting finger 25. This finger is pivoted. at 26 tothe head ofthe gripping device, preferably immediately under thestationary. jaw l6, and it is mounted. to swing from normally horizontalposition or slightly upwardly inclined position of Figs. 1 and 5downward-1y to the upright retracted position of Fig. 6. For a purposepresently to bedescribed it is supported in the horizontal or slightlyupwardly inclined position and permitted to move to the lower orretracted position by a link 21 pivoted at its upper end to the fingeras shown at 28 and pivoted at its opposite end 29 to one arm of thelever 30,pivoted in the upright lever H at 3|. Pivotally connected at 32to the other arm of the lever 301s an upright connecting rod 33connected at its opposite end by the means 34 to an operating ring 35,this operating means for all of the fingers 25, being connected to thisring 35 for simultaneous operation. This ring 35 is connected by a link36 (Fig. 2) to a lever 31 pivoted to the frame at 38 andconnected by alink 39 to a hand lever 40 pivoted at M. It will be seen that pushingdown. on the lever will raise the supporting fingers to the upper or.supportingpositionof Figs l and 5, but that I lifting up on the lever 59will move these fingers to the retracted position of Fig. 6.

As shown in Fig. l the rods l8 for the clamping jaws are connected bylinks 42 to a ring 43, and as shown in Fig. 2 this ring is connected bya link to a lever $5 pivoted at 1's, and this lever is in turn connectedby an adjustable link t? to a crank 58 on the operating handle 29.Pulling forwardly on this handle 49 will force the ring lit downwardlyto draw the movable jaws El down on to a hat brim inserted between thesejaws and the stationary jaws It to grip the brim.

The free ends of the arms 2! of the levers H are rounded as shown at 5%and are seated in a peripheral groove 5i in a head 52 on a sleeve 53mounted to slide in a bearing El i carried by a plate 55 mounted in theframe. This sleeve with the head 52 is slidable vertically in thebearing fi l, this being accomplished by a lever 59 pivoted at 5! on alink 58 pivoted at 59. The lever is pivotally secured to the sleeve asindicated at 56. The lever connected by adjustable link 6! with a footlever 52 pivoted at 53 and having a foot tread t t. Depression of thetreadle t l will move the sleeve 53 and head upwardly, and throughoperation of this head on the arms it will force the upper ends oflevers l i outward-- ly, and if at this time the jaws i! and I6 areclamped on the edge of the hat brim 23 they will tend to pull this brimlaterally and may also stretch it somewhat. On release of the treadle 6dthe weight of the operating elements, or if this is insufficientadditional weights applied thereto, will shift the sleeve 93 and thehead 52 downwardly moving the upper ends or" the levers ll inwardlytoward the hat brim. Movement of the lever and therefore the connectedelements are limited by upper and lower limit stops 65 and 66 which areadjustably mounted on the frame. Forinstance the stop 65 is adjusted bythe hand wheel 5? and then looked in adjusted position by the hand wheel58. The stop 55 is on a screw 89 and after adjustment may be locked inadjusted position by lock nut it.

Associated with the clamping and supporting means for the hat brim is ablock for shaping the crown and a ring for moving over this crown whileon the block to secure the proper shaping and blocking of the hat. Thisblock of proper oval shape is shown at H and has a dovetail transversechannel to receive a dovetail rib 12 on a supporting head 33 mounted ona frame 14 by the support its, the members 73 being secured to thesupport '55 by any suitable means such as a threaded connection. Themember may turn in the frame it to properly adjust the block after whichit may be clamped by the clamping wheel E6. The block it may be clampedon the head 73 by a set screw 71. This permits easy insertion andremoval of different sizes of blocks, as in order to change the blocksall that is necessary is to release the set screw it and slide the blockoff the dovetail guide 12 and then a different block of difierent sizeor shape may be mounted by merely sliding it on to this guide andsetting up a corresponding set screw carried by the block. The block hasa central passage '53 and there is also a passage i9 through the support'75 communicating with an air supply pipe 8i! for supplying air to thein side of the hat crown to assist in removing it from the block ii,there being an outlet opening ill at the lower end of the passage "18,the air supply of course being controlled by any suitable valvemechanism not shown. The block is movable up and down by means of thepiston rods 82 on which the frame M is supported, these rods passingthrough suitable guides 83 in the main frame and connected at theirlower ends to pistons mounted in the cylinders 84. Hydraulic pressuremay be applied to these cylinders through pipes 85 to raise the pistonrods 82 and through them the blocks ll. When the pressure is releasedthe weight of the parts will permit the block to move downwardly intothe hat body 24 supported by the clamping means. Or if preferred two waypistons may be provided in the cylinders 84 to force the rods 82 ineither direction, fluid pressure for operating these cylinders beingcontrolled by any suitable means not shown.

The banding ring for moving over the crown of the hat on the block andshaping the band portion of the crown next to the brim is shown at 86.The operating or smoothing part 81 is somewhat larger than the block 1|so as to move over the crown of the hat embracing the block andsmoothing it out against the block. Usually there is a space of aboutone-sixteenth of an inch between the ring and the block. This ring ismounted on supporting arms 88 to which the ring is secured and thesearms are secured at their lower ends as shown at 89 to a supportingblock 99 which is provided with a cross-shape recess 9! in its lowerside. This'recess is adapted to set over a cross-shape head 92 (Figs. 1and 8) which has a stem 93 seating in the top of a sleeve 94 forming apiston 95 at its lower end. This piston moves in a cylinder 96 carriedby suitable brackets 97 and the piston may be operated by hydraulicpressure supplied by a pipe 98 from any suitable controlmeans, notshown. Supply ing pressure to the cylinder 96 will raise the piston 95and the ring 81.

For supplying water to the hat during the blocking operation a pipe 99is carried by the head 92 or the sleeve 94 through any suitable meanssuch as the supports I90, and this pipe is perforated as indicated at10! to supply water to the hat. for the cooling and blocking operation,the water being supplied to the pipe 99 by any suitable means such forexample as a flexible hose connection I02 controlled by any suitablecontrol means.

In Fig. 9 is shown a modified. construction of ring N33 to be used inplace of. the ring 86. if desired. This ring instead of having asubstantially plain smoothing portion 81 has a similar portion I94 andat the upper edge of this por tion an outwardly extending curved flangeI05 to support the brim of the hat and give it the proper. curved shapeand. a similarly shaped setting in the brim.

In operation the levers II are brought to the position of Fig. l bydepressing the foot treadle 64 and the rough hat body 24 is placed withits brim 23 resting on the elevated supporting fingers which are broughtto this position by manipulation of the hand lever 40, and with thecrown '24 upward. The hat body in this condition is roughly shaped andhasnot yet been blocked. Immediately the hat is placed in this positionthe foot treadle 64 is released permitting the head 52 to drop andshifting the upper ends ol the levers H inwardly so that the free edgeof the brim 23 is over the stationary jaws or clamping sections 16 andbetween these surfaces and the upper jaws ll. Then by manipulation ofthe leverJlB. thejaws lllareloweredto, clamp 76 the edge of the brimbetween the jaws H and the jaws I6 as shown in Fig. 5. As soon as thisis done the block H is lowered against the crown of the hat body forcingit downwardly and drawing the crown over the block thus moving it to thedotted line position I06 of Fig. 1; Then-the ring 86 is moved upwardlyover the crownto smooth it. against the block. However, before this ringmoves upwardly to position the supporting fingers are all dropped totheir lower or retracted position as shown in Fig. 6 out of the way ofring 86 by manipulation of the lever 40. The operations are quite rapidso that immediately after the brim is clamped by the clamping jaws l6and I1 these fingers 25 are moved downwardly out of the way ofthe ring81 giving plenty of room for the ring tomove over the hat. Also, afterthe brim is clamped the operator -depresses thepedal 64 moving the jawsl6 and H outwardly to hold'the brim in proper'position and give it acertain amount of stretching if desired. The ring 81 is moved up overthe crown and up to engage the brim to properly shape the band of thehat, and water from the pipe 99 is sprayed on to the hat to properlycool it. By

using the type of ring shown in Fig. 9 the curved flange I05 also shapesthe brimgiving it the desired transverse curve and setting in the brim.A different size ring 81 is used for each size ofblock H, and by themounting of this ring as shown one ring may be easily and quicklyremoved and the new ring applied. The supporting block 90 is secured tothe head 92 by a set screw I01. Therefore to remove the ring 81 all thatis necessary is to release the set screw I81 and remove the ring 81 withits supporting block 90 from the head 92 by merely lifting it ofi thishead. Then another ring with its supporting block may be easily andquickly mounted on the head 92 by the reverse operation. Cross head 92with a similarly shaped recess inthe bottom of the block 90 supports thering in proper position and prevents its turning. As shown in Fig. 4 theblock operating rods 82 are located to the rear of the block and thesupporting head or frame 14 projects forwardly from the rods. Thisleaves the machine clear around the front and sides of the block so thatthere is nothing to interfere with insertion and removal of the hatbody, the blocking operations, etc. t

With this device the hat is given a wet blocking by the machine and isstretched and blocked to very nearly the finished shape so that theusual hand blocking operation is eliminated, the hat be ing suflicientlyshaped so that the next operations can be the finishing operations.After the hat is suitably shaped and stretched on the block the ring 81is lowered and jaws I1 raised to release the hat, and the block H movedupwardly with the hat on it, and then by supplying compressed airthrough the pipe and the passage 18 in the blockthe'hat crown isloosened on the block and is easily removed therefrom without stretchingor pulling it out of shape. In old constructions it was difiicult tosecure the proper support for the hat brim of the roughly shaped bodybecause it was difficult to get the supports to extend inwardlysufliciently on account of thespace required for movement of thesmoothing ring 81.

In the present case, however, as the fingers25 can be contracted andlowered out of position so as to leave plenty of clearance for movementof the a ring 81 these supporting fingers can be extended inwardly farenough to adequately and complete- I l6 and n are moved inward-1y to"positions above and below the -'-brim preparatory to clamping it.

quickly lowered out of the way so as not to in-- terfere with themovement of the ring 81.

It will be seen that in the above operation the hat is wet blockedupside down; That is the hat is-upside down from the usual hand wetblocking and it is turned inside out. Before blocking with steam the hathas to go through the wet block, that is, it is first blocked in therough,

is stretched, etc. This machine gives the shape and effect of handblocking. It gives the hand blocked shape and takesthe place of handblock mg.

Having'thus set forth the nature of my inven--' tion, what I claim is: l

1. A hat blocking machine comprising a plurality of brim clamps arrangedabout the hat body and movable toward and from the hat, a brimsupporting finger mounted on each clamp and projecting inwardlytherefroma block movable down into the crown of the hat gripped by saidclamps, a banding ringmovable upwardly over the crown on the" block,said fingers being movable downwardly and outwardly from the brimsupporting position, and means for re? tracting said fingers out of theyway of thering.

2. A hat blocking machine comprising aplu rality of'brim clamps arrangedaboutthe hat ill:

body and comprising swinging and relatively reciprocable jaw members,brim supporting fingers pivoted to the swinging jaws and projectinginwardlytherefrom, a forming blockmovable down into the crown of the hatbody, a banding ring movable up over the crown on the block, and meansfor swinging the fingers downwardly and outwardly away from the brimafter it is gripped by the jaws. I

3. In a wet blocking machine, a plurality of bnm clamps arranged aboutthe hat body and movable toward and from the body, brim supportingfingers projecting inwardly irom the clamps to support the brim prior tobeing clamped, said fingers being movable downwardly and outwardly fromthe brimafterthe brim is clamped, a block movabledownwardly into thecrown, a banding ring movable upwardly'about the crown on the block, andmeans forprojecting water onto the crown to shrink it onto the block.

4. A hat blocking machine comprising a series of upright pivoted levershaving heads including lower jaws, upwardly reciprocable jaw membersabove the first jaws, and adapted to cooperate the crown on the block,and means for moving the fingers outwardly out of theway of the ring.

5. In a hat' blocking'machine, a plurality of brim clamps arranged aboutthe hat body and comprising upper and lower jaws movable toward and fromthe hat, the upper jaws being mounted for movement relative to the lowerjaws to grip the hat brim, supporting fingers projecting inwardly fromthe jaws to support the brim of the body, means for moving the jawsinwardly to locate them on opposite sides of the brim whileit issupported on the fingers, a block movable downwardly into the crown, abanding ring movable upwardly about the crown on the block, and meansfor moving the fingers outwardly relative to the jaws and out of the wayof the ring.

6. A hat blocking machine comprising a plurality of upright leversarrangedabout a hat body and having heads including clamping jaws,cooperating jaws mounted on the levers and movable to and from the firstjawsto clamp a brim between them, said levers being pivoted to permitthe jaws to swing toward and from a hat body, brim supporting fingerspivoted to the heads so as to project inwardly from the jaws toward thehat body and swingable downwardly and outwardly away from the brim,means for swinging the jaws inwardly to position them on opposite sidesof the brim while it is supported on the fingers, and operating meansconnected to the fingers to simultaneously swing the fingers downwardlyand outwardly away from the brim while it is supported by the jaws.

'7. A hat blocking machine comprising a pic. rality of brim gripping andsupporting jaws arranged about an upright center and movable toward andfrom said center, a block movable downwardly into the crown of a hatbody held by said jaws, upright rods mounted for vertical reciprocatingmovement and located on opposite sides and spaced to the rear of saidcenter, and

a supporting-head for the block mounted on said rods and projectingforwardly therefrom so that the center of the block is spaced forwardlyof the rods and the space at the front sides of the block is free ofobstructions.

8. In a hat blocking machine, a plurality of brim gripping jaws arrangedto surround a hat body and movable toward and from the body, a supportfor a block, a block on said support and movable downwardly into a hatbody supported by said jaws, said support including a rigidly mountedhorizontal dovetail guide, said block having a similarly shapedlaterally extending guide cooperating with that of the support to permiteasy removal ofthe block by sliding movement along the dovetail guide,and means for securing the block on the support.

9. In a hat blocking machine, a plurality of brim gripping jaws arrangedto surround a hat body and movable toward and from the body, a 0

block movable downwardly into the crown of a hat body held by said jaws,a banding ring movable upwardly about the crown on said block, meansforsupporting the ring including a block on which the ring is mounted andhaving a substantially cross-shaped recess in its lower side, and avertically reciprocable support having a similarly shaped head to thatofthe recess and adapted to have the block seated over it to support theblock.

JOHN AUER.

